Dakota Johnson jokes shootingThe Office finale was 'honestly the worst time of my life'

While most Dunder Mifflin employees have fond memories of their days in The Office, onetime star Dakota Johnson feels a little differently.

Before getting wooed by Christian Grey and chased by an evil Spider-Man in Madame Web, the actress had a small role in the finale of the beloved NBC sitcom — but the experience wasn’t everything she'd hoped it to be.

“That was honestly the worst time of my life,” Johnson said of shooting the episode during her Wednesday appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers. Laughing, she continued, “I love that show so much, and they were like, ‘Do you want to be in the series finale?’ and I was like, ‘Of course,’ thinking that I’d show up for, like, half a day.”

In reality, Johnson was in it for the long haul: “I was there for two weeks," she recalled, "and I’m barely in the f---ing show.”

She’s not wrong. Johnson speaks in a grand total of two scenes in the Office finale, joining the paper sellers as a new employee after Dwight (Rainn Wilson) takes over and fires Kevin (Brian Baumgartner). But because of the show’s documentary-style filming, she also appears in the background throughout the supersized final episode.

The unexpected time commitment wasn’t her only issue. As Meyers pointed out, Johnson joined the cast a decade in and one episode away from the finish line, and emotions were running high.

“Wasn’t everybody super sad?” Meyers asked.

“They were sad,” Johnson confirmed. “And also, like, there were weird dynamics that had been going on for the last 10 years.”

She continued, “Some people didn’t speak to each other, and I’m coming in like, ‘Hahaha, I’m so excited to be here,’ and no one wanted to talk to me, nobody gave a f---. And I was like in the background of all of these scenes, faxing things.”

Given the number of celebs featured in the finale, Johnson probably wasn't alone in enduring the awkwardness. Along with returning stars like Steve Carrell, Mindy Kaling, and B.J. Novak, the episode included appearances from Rachael Harris, Joan Cusack, Ed Begley Jr., and Malcolm Barrett.

In Johnson's case, there was maybe one saving grace. Back in 2021, she revealed that her accountant character was poised to lead a spinoff.

“If everything else just falls away, maybe you’ll find me in that Office spinoff that no one wants to watch,” she joked to The Hollywood Reporter at the time, before turning serious. “I don’t know in what world that would’ve worked for me creatively. I have found that when something is successful, even when there’s nothing left, they just keep trying to wring out the towel of story. Sometimes things need to end when they’re supposed to end.”

That spinoff may never see the light of day, but you can watch Johnson air her Dunder Mifflin grievances in the Late Night clip above.

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